The present invention relates to fabric articles for providing warmth and comfort, and more specifically to a fabric article including a variety of features for swaddling a person, providing warmth to the head, supporting the neck, permitting the use of restraining belts, and/or allowing independent leg movement.
Newborn babies are typically swaddled for warmth and comfort. This is accomplished by wrapping the baby in a blanket in a manner such that the head is exposed, but the rest of the body is snugly enclosed in fabric. This conventional method of wrapping a newborn, which typically uses a small blanket, has shortcomings. One issue is that a newborn's neck muscles are not developed, and new parents and others holding the newborn may not know how to properly support the neck. As a result the baby's head may undesirably bounce around, or otherwise not be in proper alignment with the body. Another shortcoming of swaddles is that they loosen, especially as the baby gets a bit stronger and moves with more force. As a result the swaddle does not provide the desired snugness, and the caretaker must re-swaddle the baby.
Another problem associated with swaddling babies, and using blankets in general, is that they are incompatible with restraining belts used with car seats, strollers and other baby carriers. More specifically, conventional swaddling encloses the legs in a unitary bundle, so a restraining belt can't be secured between the wearer's legs, as is required for 5-point systems and the like. Alternatively, one can secure an uncovered baby into restraining system and simply drape the blanket over the baby, but this blanket can easily fall off.
While the various shortcomings of baby blankets and swaddling systems have been discussed, many blanket and/or clothing issues also exist for elderly, physically challenged and other persons. For example, standard clothing is difficult to put on and take off for many people. Additionally, draping a blanket over a wheelchair bound person is often ineffective because blankets fall off or can be blown off in the wind. Moreover, a person who is wrapped snugly in a blanket can't use restraint belts which pass between the legs.
As can be seen, there is a need for an article that provides the benefits of conventional swaddling, except also provides warmth to the head, supports the neck, permits the use of restraining belts, and/or allows independent leg movement. It is desirable that the same general design can be used with people of all sizes, from newborn to adults, by merely scaling up the size of the article with identical or similar proportions. It is also desirable that one article can accommodate a variety of sizes and functionalities, including swaddling a newborn to a pajamas-like garment for older children.